Keeping in step with the spirit
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25 (NIV)
Keeping in step with the Spirit means paying attention and moving when the Spirit is moving. When my middle son Jordan was about 3 years old, at the time, we were invited to an “Ice Cream Social” in a small Greenaway between these large buildings. So, my husband, Vaughan, Jordan, and myself (our oldest Jonathan, who was about 6 years old, was visiting his grandmother at the time) went to this gathering with a group of adults - in the early summer season.
My husband works a type of job where he is isolated most of the time and I being a stay-at-home mom with only two small children as company all day, had also been eager to spend some time with other adults. This Greenaway also had a small park with swings, monkey bars, slides, and the like, so this could be a win-win for our whole family.
While wrapped up in conversation with some of the women in the group my eyes darted to where I last saw Jordan playing by the monkey bars - but he wasn’t there. My husband is talking to a group of men and Jordan is not near him either. As my eyes dart around the Greenaway I see no sign of my son. Panic sets in, I only took my eye off of him for a second ( I thought) but it must have been at least 50 -60 seconds because now he was gone. The guilt arose in me immediately “I am a terrible mother,’ I thought “and now something terrible may happen to my son.” those thoughts kept racing as I began shouting his name and darting around the Greenaway.
I immediately started praying fervently in the hopes that God would restore my son to me safely. My husband seeing me being frantic, and noticing my confusion, also immediately joins in on the search racing around in the other direction. The fear of God crept over me, “What have I done?” I thought still shouting his name, when I suddenly spotted him. A woman is walking with him and bringing him towards me. As I shouted his name and ran towards him, the woman smiled at me and stated that he was playing with her son at the playground, and when they left to go to their car, he followed the little boy.
“This could have gone very wrong.” I thought. I thanked God and her, thank God she was a mother too and understood the implications of a lost child on a mother. After hugging my son tightly you can understand, that I never let go of his hand for the rest of the afternoon.
This episode in my life reminded me of the scripture in Luke 2:41-52 when a young Jesus is misplaced by his family. They started to travel on the road home for a full day, with a large group of adults, and because of that, they had taken their eyes off of Jesus. When they realized he was not in their company that is when their panic set in. That is when they also had to go on a search for their son.
The scripture states “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) And as you may know Jesus is called “The Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6 (NIV). But they took their eyes off of Jesus and their peace vanished with him.
Anxiety can seize us at a moment’s notice, how do you combat it? With breathwork? Sure. With prayer? Great. But why and how did they lose Jesus? Because they were not “walking by the Spirit’ - meaning not just “by” (as in the power of the Spirit) but the word “by” as not walking in close enough proximity to the Spirit (Jesus).
How often do we take our eyes off of the Lord assuming that he will be the same place that we saw him last? Taking for granted that he will stay put and wait for us to return to him. We wander away like sheep and then when we see something frightening like a wolf and when we turn again that is when we notice that the Shepherd is nowhere to be found. Why? Because when he moved we didn’t. We didn’t keep our eyes on Jesus.
The next time your anxiety rears its ugly head - think about this… how long had it been since I kept my eyes on Jesus? When my “Peace” moves, I need to follow.
